At the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency, the deputy director for Commonwealth Integration is working to grow the agency’s operational and functional relationships between Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States, referred to as the Five Eyes nations. Since improved information sharing is at the heart of partner integration, the leader, Australian Army Maj. Gen.
DIA
Which articles from our SIGNAL Media team caught your eye this past year? Check out the top 10 most-read articles from 2021.
1. Special Forces Command Seeks Key Data Aggregation, Cyber Tools
By Kimberly Underwood, February 17, 2021
General Dynamics Information Technology Inc., Falls Church, Virginia, was awarded a $829,235,847 fixed-price, award-fee task order to provide all information technology help desk services for the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA). Work will be performed at Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling in Washington, D.C., and other DIA sites, with an expected completion date of Jan. 27, 2032. Fiscal 2022 operations and management funds in the amount of $19,962,000 are being incrementally funded at the time of award for base-year labor. This contract was a competitive acquisition, and five offers were received. The Virginia Contracting Activity, Washington, D.C., is the contracting activity (HHM402-21-D-0016/0002).
The terrorism threat to the United States from international sources as well as domestic actors is evolving, officials say. On the international side, with the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan, the fall of the Afghan government and the Taliban takeover of that country last month, intelligence leaders fully expect Al-Qaeda to gain strength and capabilities in Afghanistan to be able to threaten the United States in the next one-to-two years.
“The current assessment, conservatively, is one-to-two years for Al Qaeda to build some capability to threaten the United States,” said Lt. Gen. Scott Berrier, USA, director, Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA).
COLSA Corp., Huntsville, Alabama, was awarded a $217,439,430 indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quality contract to provide scientific computing operations, analysis, and applications support to the Defense Intelligence Agency. Work will be performed in Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, with an expected completion date of 2031. Funds are not being obligated at the time of award; separate task orders will provide for funds on cost-plus-fixed-fee, firm-fixed-price, and/or time and materials task orders. This contract was a competitive acquisition, and three offers were received. The Virginia Contracting Activity, Washington, D.C., is the contracting activity (HHM402-21-D-0151).
The Defense Intelligence Agency is overhauling two critical but aging intelligence systems along with its strategy and organizational structure to enhance the organization’s ability to provide essential intelligence on militaries around the world.
J. Scott Cameron eagerly awaits the National Intelligence University’s (NIU's) “watershed moment” this weekend that will punctuate years of diligent work to “bring the university home … with ruthless government efficiency.”
On Sunday, the university officially transfers from the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI).
This shift enables the staff, faculty and students to benefit directly from the intelligence community’s (IC) stakeholders and from the ODNI’s integrating role; bringing into its fold the educational efforts that are building the next generation of the country’s intelligence officers, said Cameron, the university’s president.
Starting this fall, high school students in the state of Georgia will have the unique opportunity to take an elective course in intelligence and national security studies. The class will introduce students to the field of intelligence, the associated activities to gather intelligence, the roles of the U.S. Intelligence Community (IC), national security, the limits and capabilities of intelligence, careers in the field, and how intelligence plays a role in decision-making.
Command Master Chief Laura S. Nunley, USN, has been selected as the command senior enlisted leader for the Defense Intelligence Agency, Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling, Washington, D.C.
Over the last year and a half, the Defense Intelligence Agency’s Future Capabilities and Innovation Office, or FCI, has iteratively developed a new strategy to drive innovation and collaboration to the agency. The DIA, as the agency is known, is looking to harness artificial intelligence, machine learning, natural language processing, counterintelligence tools and other solutions to identify and assess cyber behaviors, among other capabilities. The FCI also must be able to measure the impacts of any solutions.
Government agencies are working together much more effectively as they counter terrorism and state-sponsored attacks in cyberspace. But more remains to be done as adversaries introduce new tactics and capabilities.
A panel comprising the top U.S. intelligence officials reviewed these issues as they closed out the AFCEA/INSA Intelligence & National Security Summit on September 5. Their points ranged from foreign interference in U.S. elections to cooperation—or the lack thereof—from industry with the U.S. government.
The new threat picture has signaled the time for defense intelligence to come together in an unprecedented common operating picture. This effort, which may include a moon shot equivalent known as MARS, will require many technology-driven improvements, according to the head of the Defense Intelligence Agency.
The new global threat picture has signaled the time for defense intelligence to come together in an unprecedented common operating picture. With the broader availability of new technology and the need to conduct globally integrated operations at scale and speed, U.S. forces must move away from stovepipe systems and operate more as an enterprise, posits Lt. Gen. Robert P. Ashley Jr., USA, Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) director. “For us to be able to operate really as an enterprise, to be able to move information from the intelligence community level down to warfighters … and to be able to ingest that at the services, we must be much more interoperable than we’ve been in the past.”
BAE Systems Technology Solutions & Services Inc., Rockville, Maryland (HHM402-19-D-0005); Bluehawk LLC,* West Palm Beach, Florida (HHM402-19-D-0008); Booz Allen Hamilton Inc., McLean, Virginia (HHM402-19-D-0007); CACI Inc.
Engility Corp., Chantilly, Virginia was awarded an indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract (HHM402-19-D-0003) with a maximum ceiling value of $106,000,000 for exploitation management support services to the Defense Intelligence Agency’s (DIA) National Media Exploitation Center (NMEC), Bethesda, Maryland. This contract has a five-year base ordering period and five one-year options, with a June 1, 2019, start date and a potential completion date of May 31, 2029. Through this award, DIA will procure document and media management, program support, and related intelligence support services for NMEC. Work is to be performed in the National Capital Region.
Prescient Edge Corp., McLean, Virginia, has been awarded a base-year plus four option years, with a potential six-month extension of services, time and materials contract (HHM402-18-C-0056) with an estimated ceiling of $65,080,499 to provide counterintelligence activity support services for the Defense Intelligence Agency’s (DIA) Office of Counterintelligence Counterespionage Division. Through this award, DIA will procure services to identify and neutralize threats to DIA personnel, information and missions. Work will be performed in the National Capital Region with an expected completion date of March 23, 2024. Fiscal year 2018 operations and maintenance funds in the amount of $7,286,800 are being obligated at time of award.
AT&T, Columbia, Maryland (HHM402-18-D-0006); Booz Allen Hamilton Inc., McLean, Virginia (HHM402-18-D-0007); Harris Corp., Palm Bay, Florida (HHM402-18-D-0008); KeyW Corp., Hanover, Maryland (HHM402-18-D-0009); Leidos Inc., Chantilly, Virginia (HHM402-18-D-0010); Lockheed Martin Corp., Littleton, Colorado (HHM402-18-D-0011); Macaulay-Brown Inc., Dayton, Ohio (HHM402-18-D-0012); Northrop Grumman Systems Corp., Cincinnati, Ohio (HHM402-18-D-0013); and Southwest Research Institute, San Antonio, Texas (HHM402-18-D-0014), were awarded a five-year base plus five one-year option indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity (ID/IQ), multiple-award contract called HELIOS with a combined ceiling value of $500,000,000.
Parsons Government Services Inc., Huntsville, Alabama, has been awarded a five-year indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity task order contract (HHM402-18-D-0004) with a potential five-year option and a ceiling of $164,693,682 to provide support services for the Defense Intelligence Agency’s (DIA) Missile and Space Intelligence Center (MSIC) located at Redstone Arsenal, Huntsville, Alabama. Through this award, DIA will procure services to support a variety of functions at MSIC, including modeling and simulation architecture analytical tools, model development and integration, integrated forces analysis, and C4 exploitation and analysis. Work will be performed in Huntsville, Alabama with an expected completion date of May 7, 2028.
The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel, Maryland, has been awarded a cost-plus fixed-fee, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract (HMM402-18-D-0002) to engineer, integrate, and test specialized sensor systems for the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA). The contract has a ceiling of $125,000,000. The university will provide essential engineering, research and development capabilities in support of multiple divisions of DIA’s Directorate of Science and Technology Office of Advanced Technologies. Work will be performed in the national capital region; and throughout the U.S., with an expected completion date of November 30, 2022.
Leveraging artificial intelligence and machine learning is a hot topic for the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), and the agency isn’t letting conventional thinking stand in the way of finding innovative ideas. The upcoming Director’s 3rd Quarterly Industry Day is just one example. From planning to execution, the two-day event is designed to find new capabilities and business processes from the private sector and academia.
Lt. Gen. Vincent Stewart, USMC, has taken command as the 20th director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, making him the first U.S. Marine to take the helm of the military’s spy agency.
In his new role, Gen. Stewart also serves as the Joint Functional Component Command for Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR). He is stationed at DIA headquarters at Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling in Washington, D.C.
General Dynamics Information Technology, Fairfax, Virginia, has been awarded a $40 million task order under the Solutions for the Information Technology Enterprise (SITE) contract to support the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA). General Dynamics will provide 24-hour supervision for the Directorate for Information Management's enterprise service desk, which includes a customer call center and managing mission essential services. The company will be responsible for ensuring unresolved service desk requests are routed to the appropriate support organizations, as well as ensuring that all incidents are promptly and accurately documented in the incident tracking system.
Rear Adm. Paul B. Becker, USN, has been nominated for assignment as vice director for intelligence, J-2, Joint Staff, Defense Intelligence Agency, Washington, D.C.
David Shedd has been named deputy director, Defense Intelligence Agency, Arlington, Virginia.
Yesterday's blog coverage was just too short to include the depth of advice the experts at the Small Business Intelligence Forum shared, so here are a few more ideas: -Savvy SIGNAL Scape reader Ross Andrews, ARC Program Manager, Contractor - BVTI, beat this reporter to the punch on a very important item that should be on every small company's list if it wants to do business with the intelligence community: register with the Acquisition Resource Center. See his full comment at http://bit.ly/bXmzFM.
It's sometimes difficult to figure out what's the bigger secret - intelligence or the acquisition processes of the organizations that gather it. CIA, NSA, DIA plus 13 more agencies are collectively known as the intelligence community (IC), but that's where most of the similarity ends when it comes to these information hunters and gathers when it comes to purchasing goods, services or "carbon units." One fact is absolutely true and as open source as is possible: small businesses have advocates in IC agencies that fight tooth and nail in their interest. Some of these experts presented valuable secrets as well as common sense about how to capture the IC's business at the AFCEA International Small Business Intelligence Forum.